I woke up early this morning and sat in the dark. I thought it might be nice to enjoy the lights on our new tree. It’s a real tree, I could see the outline, smell the pine scent, but no lights. We are waiting for the lights. Apparently they are coming in the mail (thank you Amazon Prime) later today. So, I wait.
Thanks to the Christmas zeal of a 10 year old, the ornaments are spread… well, actually they are sprawled… across the coffee table. I can’t see them because it’s dark, but I can feel them with my toes. And I know when the sun finally comes up it will expose a mess… the mess of Christmas. The ornaments are just waiting to be hung on the tree… but first… the lights. We wait for the lights.
My husband loves Christmas tree lights. At some point during the tree decorating we will hear the story. The story about when he was a poor college student, living 1442 miles from home. His family wanted him home for Christmas… he said if they promised to put all blue lights on the Christmas Tree he would get there somehow. His sister went out and spent her own money on blue lights. He hitchhiked the 1442 miles from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Buhl, Idaho.
There is something about those lights. They draw us in. They draw us to. And, they need to be on the tree before anything else. Everything comes together, eventually… but we have to wait for the lights. I hate waiting. The sprawled out ornaments feels like the mess of life. I know there is beauty here… I know it…but until the light comes it’s a mess.
Sometimes the lights come to us, via Amazon Prime shipping, and sometimes we need to do whatever we can (note to my kids: hitch hiking was ok in the 70’s but is no longer an acceptable mode of transportation) to get there.
So, we wait… and when the light gets here it will make everything beautiful. My sprawling mess will be something beautiful. Isaiah 9 says….“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone….” Walking in darkness? Living in a land of deep darkness? I’m sitting it it for sure. That’s why I’m up in the middle of the night. I’m looking for the light. Something to help me make sense of the mess, the questions, the hard times…. The solution?
Light.
Isaiah goes on to name the light “… and HE shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” According to Isaiah it is a light well worth waiting for. The Good News is…It, or rather He .. is already here! No Amazon Prime, no hitch hiking home…. The gospel of John says it poetically …. “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” And he goes on to say… “ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory,” Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace… JESUS. The light… Ahhh… the Light. No waiting.
Light first… then we can hang our sprawling mess on that tree… and He makes it beautiful.
